Superhuman for Power Users: Keyboard-Only Triage, Splits, Reminders, and a Follow-Up System That Never Drops the Ball

Email isn’t one problem; it’s five—capture, triage, writing, scheduling, and follow-up—spread across dozens of tabs and tools. Superhuman compresses that sprawl into a single, fast surface built for the keyboard. Used well, it becomes your personal shared-nothing inbox OS: you’ll clear mail in minutes, send crisp replies with reusable snippets, and boomerang anything you can’t act on to the exact moment it matters. This guide gives you a production-ready configuration for small and medium-team professionals: inbox architecture, Splits, triage macros, snippets, reminders, search, calendar, and a two-week rollout plan.

Why Superhuman (and when it wins)

• Latency kills context. Superhuman’s command palette and instant search mean you touch a message once; you don’t wait for the UI to load while your brain forgets the ask.
• The keyboard is the workflow. Every operation—archive, label, snooze, remind, schedule, insert a snippet—happens with one or two keystrokes.
• First reply + follow-up > everything. Read statuses, Remind Me, and Scheduled Send give you control over the loop without spreadsheets or add-ons.

Choose Superhuman if most of your work runs through email (sales, partnerships, product leadership, investor relations, client service) and you value speed and follow-through more than heavy collaboration inside the inbox (Front/Help Scout fit shared teams better; you can use both—Front for shared addresses, Superhuman for your named account).

Your operating model: the five outcomes

Every message should end in one of five outcomes:

1. Archive — no action needed or purely informational.
2. Reply now — ≤2 minutes to type or approve.
3. Delegate — forward with a crisp ask and Remind Me to check back.
4. Task — track outside email (your PM tool or task manager).
5. Remind — boomerang to the exact moment you can act or need the response.

Design your setup to make these outcomes one keystroke each.

First-time setup (30 minutes)

1. Keyboard primer
   • J/K to move, E archive, R reply, O open thread, Cmd+K (Mac) / Ctrl+K (Win) for Command Palette, Cmd+Enter send.
   • H opens the shortcut guide; keep it open for day one.
2. Essential preferences
   • Undo Send: 10–20 seconds.
   • Read statuses: enable for sent mail to see opens on critical threads.
   • Split pane: enable three-column layout so you skim without losing position.
   • Calendar panel: pin to the side; accept/decline without leaving.
3. Labels (keep tiny and durable)
   Create 6–10 labels you’ll actually filter by:
   • Action, Waiting, Reference, Finance, Legal, Customers, Press, Internal.
     Avoid per-project labels; project work lives in your PM tool.
4. Signature + variables
   Use a short, personal signature. Add calendar link + one line on response windows (“I’m fastest 1–3pm – book here: …”).

Splits: multiple inboxes that reduce scanning

Splits are saved filters you can jump between with the command palette (Cmd/Ctrl+K → type the Split name). Create four to start:

• Important — people you must never miss (execs, key customers, investors). Filter by sender/domain + “not newsletters.”
• VIP Deals — opportunities or active partnerships (by domain or subject keyword).
• Newsletters — everything with list-id or from trusted publications (processed in batches).
• Waiting — messages you’ve Remind Me’d or labeled Waiting (your follow-up queue).

Pro tip: Favor sender/domain rules over subject keywords; they’re less noisy over time.

The 7-minute inbox zero ritual

Superhuman’s speed makes short sessions potent. Here’s the pipeline:

1. Open Important Split
   • For each message: R reply if ≤2 minutes; else Cmd+K → Remind me (tonight 6pm; tomorrow 8am; next Tue 9am).
   • If you’re waiting on someone else, F forward with a single-sentence ask and Cmd+K → Remind me in 3 days if no reply.
   • Done? E archive.
2. Open Inbox (All)
   • E ruthlessly on promos and FYIs.
   • Convert decisions into tasks: Cmd+Shift+C to copy thread link; paste into your task manager with the verb + outcome; archive the email.
   • Meeting requests: accept/decline from the calendar pane; Cmd+K → Send times (paste your two windows or use your scheduler).
3. Open Newsletters Split
   • Batch process: skim 3–5, star 1, archive the rest.
   • If you’ll read later, Remind me this weekend and archive.
4. Open Waiting Split
   • Nudge anyone past the agreed timeframe using a friendly snippet (“Quick nudge on the below—anything I can provide?”); bump your reminder to the next checkpoint.

This pipeline gives you honest inbox zero without pretending to finish things you can’t.

Snippets: speed without sounding robotic

Create 10–15 snippets you’ll actually use. Keep them human and short; personalize one line. Suggested set:

• Scheduling: two windows
  “Happy to connect. I’m open Tue 10–12 or Thu 14–16 (your time). If easier, book here: {{link}}.”
• Intro request
  “Thanks for offering to connect us. A short intro works great—blurb below for easy copy/paste.”
• Nudge / gentle follow-up
  “Quick nudge on the below—still a fit? If not, no worries; I’ll close the loop Friday.”
• Acceptance criteria request (for product/design)
  “Could you share success criteria and deadline? Three bullets is perfect.”
• Decline with context
  “Appreciate the note—this isn’t a priority this quarter. If things change, I’ll reach back out.”
• Incident ack
  “We’re looking now. I’ll update you by {{time}} with next steps. Meanwhile, here’s our status page: {{url}}.”

Organize snippets by prefix (sched-, nudge-, intro-, support-) so autocomplete is instant.

Remind Me: the follow-up engine

Treat Remind Me as your personal SLA system:

• If waiting on someone: after any outbound ask, set Remind me in 3 days or the exact date (“next Wed 9am”). Choose “if no one replies” so success doesn’t ping you.
• If the action isn’t today: snooze to your next realistic window (“Sat morning,” “Mon 8am,” “after stand-up”).
• If you need a checkpoint: set recurring reminders for long threads (“every Fri 9am until DONE”).
• If the email becomes a task: add to your PM tool and Remind me the day before the task’s due date with “regardless” to ensure you review.

Your goal: no open loops outside Remind Me or your task manager.

Writing fast, clear replies (that get decisions)

• Subject lines tell the ask: “Decision by Thu: Lifecycle email v2?” or “Action today: unblock billing export.”
• Three-sentence rule for first touches: context, ask, next step/time.
• Bullets beat paragraphs; bold the one decision.
• Quote replies sparingly; Superhuman’s inline quoting keeps threads readable—trim aggressively.
• Scheduled Send for time-zone respect; use Send Later so your mail lands during their morning window.

Search that actually finds things

Superhuman’s instant search is a superpower—use it like a command line:

• from:rita has:attachment “invoice”
• to:legal before:2025-05-01 subject:msa
• is:unread list:newsletters
• has:calendar “Q4 review”

Save frequent searches as Splits if they represent a work mode (e.g., “Contracts” for anything subject:msa or subject:order form).

Calendar, scheduling links, and time defense

• Pin the Calendar panel. Accept/decline inline; propose times with a snippet.
• Use exactly two scheduling links (15-min triage, 30-min sync) tied to your meeting windows; never DM raw slots.
• Block no-meeting mornings on your calendar; in replies, nudge toward afternoon windows.
• Schedule Send to land in their morning.

For managers vs. individual contributors

Managers (meeting-heavy)

• Larger Important Split (directs, peers, leadership).
• Aggressive Remind Me defaults on delegation.
• Use read statuses on critical escalations.

ICs (maker schedule)

• Narrow Important to immediate team + key stakeholders.
• Turn off notifications except for the Important Split.
• Batch Newsletters weekly; snooze low-value threads to evenings.

Security and privacy basics

• Use SSO + 2FA on the underlying email provider.
• Never paste secrets in email; link to your secret manager or encrypted doc.
• Treat read statuses with discretion—don’t play “I saw you opened it,” just nudge on your Remind Me cadence.

Metrics that matter (and how to collect them)

You don’t need a BI stack. Track three numbers weekly in a simple note:

• Response time (median) to Important contacts. Target <4 working hours.
• Follow-up adherence: % of Remind Me pings you acted on the same day. Target 90%+.
• Email hours: time spent in email per day. Target 1–2 hours for ICs; 2–3 for managers.

If the numbers slip: shrink your Important Split, reduce newsletters, and push more conversations to decision-centric meetings.

A 14-day rollout plan

Days 1–2 — Foundations
Enable undo send and read statuses, set up Splits (Important, VIP, Newsletters, Waiting), and memorize E, R, Cmd/Ctrl+K, and Remind me.

Days 3–4 — Snippets
Create 10 snippets (scheduling, nudge, decline, incident ack, acceptance criteria). Prefix for speed. Practice inserting with two keystrokes.

Days 5–6 — Time defense
Publish two scheduling links tied to your meeting windows. Add a calendar block for no-meeting mornings. Use Scheduled Send for late emails.

Day 7 — Inbox zero drill
Run the 7-minute ritual 3× in one day: Important → Inbox → Newsletters → Waiting. Aim for zero unread.

Days 8–9 — Delegation loop
For any outbound ask, attach Remind Me with “if no one replies.” Build the habit. Clean your Waiting Split daily.

Days 10–11 — Search + splits
Create one new Split that represents a recurring mode (e.g., Contracts, Renewals, Hiring). Save the query; practice jumping via the palette.

Days 12–13 — Calendar hygiene
Clean recurring meetings; add agendas to invites; convert one status meeting to a written update. Use Scheduled Send to deliver during recipients’ mornings.

Day 14 — Review & tune
Measure your three metrics. Delete snippets or Splits you didn’t use. Tighten Important to the top 20 senders. Decide one change for next week.

Common pitfalls (and quick fixes)

• Split overload → Keep ≤6. If you don’t open it daily or weekly, delete it.
• Snippet robots → Personalize the first line; keep snippets short.
• Snooze tunnel → Don’t kick everything to the future. If a message needs >10 minutes, create a task and link the thread.
• Passive follow-up → Always attach Remind Me to outbound asks; don’t trust your memory.
• Calendar chaos → Two links, clear windows, Scheduled Send. Everything else creates back-and-forth.

What you gain when it sticks

Within two weeks, you’ll stop re-reading the same messages and start closing loops. Important people hear back fast; low-value mail disappears; big asks return to you exactly when you can act. Your inbox becomes a calm control panel rather than a guilt factory—and your best work moves forward because your attention isn’t trapped in a loading spinner.